


Blood of the Covenant

by VeryImportantDemon



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: A what if thing because I love what ifs, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blitzstone are married, M/M, Tag to the Hammer of Thor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-11 01:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12311544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeryImportantDemon/pseuds/VeryImportantDemon
Summary: Magnus had always liked the saying 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.' Sure, he loved his mom, but after she died, there was something comforting about knowing that he could make a family for himself, one that was just as his, just as good, and just as real. He was glad he'd found that in Sam, his hallmates, and Blitz and Hearth, who already seemed to be their own family. He loved what blood stood for, but he really, really didn't like it when it was the physical blood of his family.





	1. My Friends Play a Deadly Game of Eenie, Meanie, Mineie, Mo

**Author's Note:**

> Another WIP... Wow.

I kind of hate death prophecies. When you're a godly warrior, you get used to them, but that doesn't mean I have to like them. A lot of times, they were more annoying than anything, like that fly that is also just out of your reach as you try to swat at it. But this one? This one seemed a little more ominous than the others.  _Blitzen. Bloodshed. Cannot be stopped. Before_ _ostara_ _._ I didn't like it when anything threatened my friends, especially when that thing was a prophecy. I also didn't like how forward it seemed to be.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't doubting Hearth's abilities or anything like that. But if I knew absolutely anything about prophecies and gods, they usually rhymed, they never made sense, and they were hardly ever that, well... Blatant. There was always some level of subterfuge or deception. This one seemed way too obvious. As much as I liked simple, it couldn't be that easy, could it? When was life that easy? The answer was always never. 

Hearth had taken the prophecy as undisputed fact, so naturally, the rest of us did, too. Also naturally, we weren't just going to let that happen. When Randolph scooped up the Skofnung Sword and Loki started babbling like a crazy person about feeding it, I started to get a little nervous. My elf friend's fingers flutter nervously.  _Prophecy,_ he signed. Like any of us needed reminding. He grabbed Blitz's shoulder, and it looked like Blitz was holding him up, too. 

"No way," I said, raising Jack who was humming in my grip and singing 'Stayin' Alive' by the Beegees. Not the time, but appreciate nonetheless. "Randolph, come on," I said. "I don't want to hurt you, but to save them, I will." I felt a lump form in my throat, but I ignored it. I felt more kinship to Sam, Alex, Blitz, and Hearth than I did towards Randolph, but he was still family. 

I stepped in front of Sam, ready to protect her. But, because I'm so,  _so_ stupid, as soon as Hearth wasn't signing it at me, I forgot about the prophecy. All I knew was that I didn't want Loki anywhere near these people. I really did, however, admire Blitz's bravery. He hefted a broadsword almost bigger than he was and stared down a god definitely bigger than he was, and gave him the verbally middle finger. "You won't do this to Hearth," he spat. "I won't let you." Loki laughed, shaking his head. "I can do whatever I want," he said. "And I suppose I only need one of you to do it..." He clicked his tongue, humming over the decision. 

Blitz and I were both steaming with rage. Hearth just looked like he was being choked by his scarf or like the air had simply been sucked out of the room. Either way, he didn't look happy to be there. "Eenie, meanie, mineie..." His eyes flicked from Hearth to Blitz as he spoke each word, and the callousness with which he played with their lives infuriated me. Loki's glittering black eyes landed on Hearth. " _Mo._ " A split second too late, every conscious one of us in the room realized what he was going to do. My uncle Randolph cried out and plunged the sword into Hearth's stomach. 

I wanted to take this place apart brick by brick and stone by stone and I wanted to take Loki and my uncle down with it, screw the fact that we were blood. I realized then why the family that we chose is such a powerful thing., because in that moment, I would have done absolutely anything to save Hearth. It wasn't easy, but I calmed down just enough to send my sword on his merry way to kill things and spin around back towards Blitz and Hearth. 

The scene was heart-breaking. Hearth was sprawled out on the cave floor, Blitz cradling his head like he was a child. His eyes were already shining with tears, like he knew what was going to happen. Hearth's wound didn’t look too bad as I frantically approached because everything he wore was black, but then the end of his scarf resting on his chest started turning red, the blood seeping upwards and staining the white with his blood. Blitz was mumbling something in Norse, Hearth weakly tracing letters on his palm.

Loki was yammering on again, but I wasn't listening, a little too preoccupied with my dying friend to worry about it. I hoped Jack was listening. I fell to my knees at Hearth's side, shaking my hands. "Come on, man," I muttered. "Come on, come on..." I had to heal him. I had to do something, anything. I could fix this, right? I could fix this. Except... What if I couldn't?

"Blitz, do you have anything at all?" I asked desperately. Blitz looked like it physically hurt him to pull his hand away from Hearth's, but he did it anyway, reaching into his pocket to pull out the tiny pouch he always kept there. As he upended it, a spool of thread bounced away and a few stones clattered to the ground. He frantically searched through what was left, but for what, I didn't know. 

I turned my attention to Hearth, who was already looking worse. He was a pale guy, but he was paler than I had ever seen anyone go, so pale that he was going gray. I remembered a time when the three of us were homeless and we'd managed to get locked in the basement of an old building. Hearth had gotten pretty bad then, but that wasn’t even close to this. I was terrified then, before I even knew about the world around me. But now? This was so much worse. So, so much worse. 

I could see the confusion in his wide blue eyes, but I also saw something that made my blood run hotter. Resignation. Like he somehow deserved this. I could think of a few people who deserved this, and Hearthstone was nowhere close to the list.  _Won't work,_ he signed weakly.  _Need whetstone. Part of my W-E-R-G-I-L-D._ I frowned as he fingerspelled the last word, his hands barely moving. I'd been around him for long enough I could still decipher his words.  _Take care of..._  I thought he was going to make the sign for Blitz's name, but instead he made a different sign. His middle fingers bent at the knuckle, he tapped his fingertips together before straightened his fingers. He tapped his right palm with the back of the fingers of his left hand. Heartbeat. Take care of his heartbeat? He wasn't going to have a heartbeat if we couldn't keep him alive any longer...

""Shut up," I told him. "Shut up and I will fix this." My hands started glowing dimly as I pressed them to his stomach. I could feel my power leaving me as my hands heated up, but Hearth... I could feel his areries and veins and muscles and skin pulling apart just as I pushed them together. The wound was reasserting itself as fast as I could heal it. 

I leaned back on my heels, sucking in a breath. "Blitz, please tell me you have something," I said desperately. He looked even more upset and helpless than I did, which was saying something. "Nothing that'll help yet, kid," he said, squeezing Hearth's hand. "We need the stone." 

I did not know what stone they were talking about and I really didn't like the idea of listenign to Loki, but if it would save Hearth... "You're gonna be fine," Blitz whispered. He signed as he spoke, but he added another sign on the end. His palms were facing him, forming the symbol for the letter H. He tapped the tips of his middle fingers together before curling his fingers in to make a fist. He tapped the back of his left hand with the fingers of the fist of his right. I recognized it as Blitz's namesign for Hearth. It was a blend of the H for his name and the sign for cornerstone. "We're going to fix this, okay?" Blitz told him again. 

Hearth fumbled, his fingers not cooperating as he tried to sign again.  _Prophesy. W-E-R-G-I-L-D. Share blood. Share life._ I had no idea what that meant, but Blitz tensed up, so I assumed that he did. 

The glow on my hands died as I stood up. I turned back to Loki, fury reflected in my eyes my nails digging into my palms. "What do you want?" I demanded. "What do you want from us?" Loki smiled wickedly, and I really wanted to punch his teeth in. "Glad you asked. My dear dwarf, would you like to take this one?" 


	2. The One Where I Am Confused (Like Always) and Blitz Has a Plan

Blitz did not want to take this one. 

I turned slightly when I heard a noise. It was Hearth shifted on the ground. His pale hands were shaking so badly that I could barely make out  _B-L-I-T-Z_ when he fingerspelled it. Blitz's hand on top of his stilled them. He was still protectively crouched beside his elf, angrily glaring at Loki.  _It's alright,_ he signed.  _Let me take this one._

"He wants the stone," Blitz said finally as he rose to his feet, his eyes dark. "The Skofnung Stone. It's the only stone that can sharpen the Sword. And... It heals any wound inflicted by it." I liked the sound of that. I glanced down at Hearth. I really liked the sound of that. 

"Exactly!" Loki cheered. "Smart one, this dwarf. Maybe you'll be able to get it done faster than Hearthstone would've. He's always been too afraid to go back there." He sneered in Hearth's general direction, but I wasn't really paying attention to that. I was paying attention to Blitz, who I was very proud of. His hands started flying so fast I was barely able to keep up with them – a long string of insults in at least 3 different languages, all the while shouting different curse words. It was like a performance. Honestly, it was art. It was a privilege to witness. 

"Creative," Loki remarked. "I haven't been called some of those in a long while..." He smirked again. That stupid god of mischief and his stupid smirk. Stupid. "Hurry on home, then," Loki urged us. "You'll have to go quickly if you want to save him and make the party. 

My notably slower brain was churning trying to keep up. Home. "You mean, we have to go to-" Blitz cut me off. "No, kid. Not my home. Hearth's. Alfheim. Not that I'd call that rat's nest a home." He wrinkled his nose in disgust, crossing his arms. "Alfheim?" I repeated. Blitz nodded again. "I told him once that he should never have to go back there. He shouldn't have to face  _him_ again, after everything he did. But... Executive decision. We're going."

Loki clapped his hands together. "Wonderful!" He cheered. "We're in agreement, then. You'll bring the sword and the stone to the wedding." I squinted angrily, wishing I had Jack in my hand. "That's why you arranged all this?" I said. "You stabbed my friend so we'd bring your stupid stone to your stupid wedding?" 

"How eloquent," Loki said. "But... Yes. Call it an incentive. Run along, now. See you in a few days!" He waved at us before he spoke again. "Come now, Randolph..." I didn't want to even think about my uncle in that moment, but he managed to catch my eye and mouth  _I'm sorry._

Almost as soon as Loki was gone, Sam woke up. I had completely forgotten about her in the face of the conversation we'd had but when she spoke, I turned towards her. "What's going on?" She demanded. "What happened?" I didn't have the willpower to answer. I'd sank back down to my knees next to Hearth, my hands glowing yellow as I tried my best to keep him stable. It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough and he was slipping away and there was nothing I could do about it. 

Sam was at my side in a moment, her hands fluttering in front of her. She must've felt more helpless than I did. "Oh my gods," she muttered. "No, no, no. This wasn't supposed to happen." Blitz opened his mouth like he was about to speak, but nothing came out because Hearth's hands had started fluttering again.  _Okay,_ he signed.  _Don't need to go. Don't need to save me. Don't let L-O-K-I win._ Blitz instantly shook his head, taking Hearth's hands in his own. "Of all the stupid plans you've ever had, that's the stupidest," he said. "Like I wasn't going to save you. Like I'm not going to save you!" He shook his head again, squeezing Hearth's hands gently. "I will find a way." He released his hands to start signing again.  _Promised you. Don't break vows._

"Loki didn't leave us a choice," I said, looking up at Sam, my eyes hollow. "The stone he needs... It's in Alfheim. It heals wounds inflicted by the sword. And to make sure we got it..." I nodded helplessly to my friend. "I could get it," Blitz said, sighing. "I know exactly where that dragon keeps it. I could get it, but I don't have time. I don't have-" He stopped, his eyes widening. "Time," he said. "Time! I can make more time, I can make more time!" His hands fluttered quickly, signing  _Wait here_ to Hearth. I wasn't quite sure where he was going to go, but I understood. The guy was under a lot of stress. 

Blitz got antsy when Hearth was injured mortally or at all, and because Hearth was, well, Hearth, that happened a lot. Where was a handle with care sticker when you needed one? Blitz was seriously going to have an aneurism one of these days. Could dwarves even aneurisms? That was a question for another day. 

Blitz turned slightly to me, pushing up his left sleeve. There on his wrist was a gold bracelet. It was so thin that I only noticed it when it caught the light. There were runes etched onto the gold's surface that I couldn't make out completely. Hearth's eyes moved sluggishly, following Blitz's motions. I could see Blitz's mouth moving but whatever he'd said didn't register. "What?" I stammered. "His hands, kids. I need one of his hands." Instinctively, I released one of Hearth's hands, scooting backwards a little while still clinging onto the other one. I could feel the exhaustion settling in, but I ignored it in favor of watching Blitz. 

"What's he doing?" Sam whispered in my ear, like I would know. "No idea," I whispered back. 

Blitz spoke softly but quickly to Hearth. "You know what I have to do," he said. Hearth sighed softly, but he nodded, his cloudy blue eyes looking resigned. "I'll see you on the other side, Hearth," Blitz said, signing while he did so. He slid the bracelet off of his wrist and onto Hearth's. His fingers lingered, dragging across Hearth's palm one last time. " _Heill_ _,"_ he said. That word, I did recognize. It was Old Norse for healthy, complete, undamaged. But Hearth was most certainly not any of those things. 

As soon as he spoke the word, thin gold fibers started to erupt from the bracelet. Like a mummy, they started wrapping around Hearth. They snaked around his arms and started racing across his chest, almost faster than I could watch. Before I could speak, he was covered with them, invisible under a gold shell. 

When he stood up, Blitz looked... Sad. Well, sad wasn't a strong enough word for it but that was the only word I could think of. "What did you do?" I asked when I could finally speak. Blitz was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "You remember that basement, kid?" he asked. "Back in Boston?" I nodded. I very much remembered that day. "That got me thinking. I wanted to have something incase we ever got stuck in a situation like that again, something to keep him alive. The threads are made out of some seriously powerful ingredients. They generate just enough light to keep him alive and let just enough darkness to keep him, well... Not alive." He threaded his fingers together. "The light and the dark cancel each other out. It puts him in stasis. It's..." He let his hands fall to his sides as he sighed. "It's  break glass in case of emergency thing, a... What do Christians call it? A hail Mary pass? It's not meant to last very long and I have no idea how long it'll work with what the Skofnung Sword did."

Silence fell on all of us again. "So we need to hurry," I surmised. Blitz nodded. "Yeah. We need to hurry." 

Sam cleared her throat. Blitz looked startled for a moment like he'd forgotten she was even there. "If you can get Hearth," she said, "I can call us a ride." 


End file.
